NVIDIA's next-generation single-chip socket AM2 chipset revealed
Memos sent to DailyTech reveal new details of NVIDIA’s upcoming MCP72 single-processor chipset. This will be NVIDIA’s first HyperTransport 3.0, or HT3, compatible chipset and a successor to the current nForce 500-series MCP and the upcoming AMD MCP68 chipsets.
MCP72 will support AMD’s socket AM2 and HT3 enabled AM2+. Socket AM2+ will house AMD’s upcoming Athlon 64 Agena and Opteron Budapest quad-core processors.
Unlike the nForce 500-series, the upcoming MCP72 is a single-chip solution similar to the previous nForce 3-series and early nForce 4-series. It will also offer a small footprint and have low power consumption.
MCP72 will also be NVIDIA’s first PCIe 2.0 equipped chipset, making it ideal for next-generation PCIe peripherals and graphics cards. Other notable MCP72 features include support for six SATA 3.0Gbps and dual Gigabit Ethernet ports like the current nForce 500-series.
As with all NVIDIA chipset architectures, expect MCP72 to spawn SLI and Ultra variants. There’s also the possibility of MCP72-based integrated graphics offerings too.
Expect MCP72 to launch in time for AMD’s upcoming Agena and Budapest quad-core processors.
